Archive By Section - Local

The 15th annual Festival of Lights brought in hundreds of community members to witness the lighting of the community Christmas tree in Central Park, an event that symbolizes the beginning of the holiday season in Turlock. The lighting generated a surge in applause before the crowd disbursed to browse in downtown shops, such as Vintage Market which was teeming with customers purchasing Christmas themed items. Vendors lined the streets selling food and items to customers of all ages.

As crowds rushed to big-box stores for door buster deals following their Thanksgiving meal for Black Friday, many local shop owners were preparing for their own shopping holiday – Small Business Saturday.

'Tis the season for winter sports, including ice skating, and now locals won't have to drive out of town to test their skills on the slippery surface as locals Ron and Karen Macedo have made ice skating in Turlock a reality.

Ceres may be a half a world away from the site of the biblical journey on which Christmas is centered but the folks at Grace Community Christian Church are planning to give the public their best shot at recreating the "Journey to Bethlehem."

On the day before Thanksgiving the narrow kitchen in the back of Latif's Restaurant is teeming with bakers in pie dough crusted aprons, their faces dusted in flour. There is a large refrigerated room filled with vats of pie filling, pounds of dough on the counters, and a contagious holiday spirit as employees pitch in to make the restaurant's biggest pie-baking days of the year a success.

Turlock Irrigation District Director Ron Macedo was appointed to the position of president on Tuesday morning, filling the shoes of Director Michael Frantz who has served as president for the past two years.

The spirit of gift giving is on the minds of many as Christmas gets closer each day. This holiday season, coffee empire Starbucks is joining alongside local social services agency Aspiranet to help bring holiday gifts to youth in foster care.